German power metal band Blind Guardian made their return to US soil after a successful US tour last year. On this special tour, Blind Guardian is performing their entire 1995 Imaginations from the Other Side album in its entirety. The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, California was just over half full, but still made for a fun show for the metal community.

The lights went out and the crowd cheered as the members of the band came out one by one. They started the show with The Ninth Wave from their newest Beyond the Red Mirror album. A rather lengthy song at nine and a half minutes, but was a nice start to warm up fans. With the second song Welcome to Dying, fans got a chance to sing along to the chorus and sped things up a bit. The third song performed was the fan-favorite, Nightfall. Fans really loved singing along to this song and the whole venue could be seen singing along to “Niiightfaaalll!”. Fly was the next song and kept the fast pace going as fans were riled up and a large mosh pit could be seen staying active the whole night. After four songs to warm up the crowd, it was time to start the main setlist of the show. And so, the first track of the album was played which was the title track, Imaginations from the Other Side. Frontman Hansi Kursch still hit those high notes required for this song even 20 years after its release. Fans enjoyed songs from this album that the band hasn’t played in a long time and even songs never performed live before. Songs like: I’m Alive, The Script for My Requiem, Mordred’s Song, and Born in a Mourning Hall were welcomed by fans and fans in the mosh pit enjoyed themselves in their own way. Bright Eyes is another one of the band’s biggest hits so naturally the audience knew this song by heart and happily sang along. The album came to an end with And the Story Ends and the band left the stage after thanking everyone for coming out.

The fans weren’t ready to go home just yet as they stayed behind chanting for the band to come back out. After a few minutes, Blind Guardian came back out to play a few more hits. The first encore of the night was And Then There Was Silence, a thirteen minute long masterpiece that any Blind Guardian fan should listen to if they haven’t. The next encore was Valhalla and features the classic speed and guitar harmonies that makes power metal what it is. At the end of the song, Blind Guardian had the fans repeat the final chorus of “Valhalla, deliverance, why’ve you ever forgotten me” which made for beautiful singing from the audience. Acoustic guitars were brought out and longtime fans of the band knew what was coming next. The Bard’s Song (In the Forest) is one of the band’s most popular songs and is an absolute favorite to sing along to. Fans would even “whoa” a long to the intro guitar section. The chorus of the song was especially sang along to and combined with the melody of the song made for some beautiful music. It was time for the show to come to an end and for such an occasion, Blind Guardian played Mirror Mirror, their most popular song. In true power metal style, the guitar were fast and heavy, headbanging was everywhere, and people in the mosh pit once again went into a frenzy and let out whatever remaining energy they had. Blind Guardian wrapped up their show, bowed to the fans, and left the stage. Plenty of happy faces could be seen and fans would be left wondering how long would it be before they came back.